Myanmar Refugees: Babies are Dying Aboard Boats that Can't Come Ashore

Source Salam news, 27 Oct

It doesn't have to be this way... people in this world are calling for justice.

Despair underscores the entire Rohingya refugee movement.

(SACRAMENTO, CA) - In spite of fragmented efforts by the Burmese government to quell violence stemming from religious unrest, a long, systematic series of attacks from the Rakhine Buddhists against Rohingya Muslims continue, as these 'stateless people' recoil under the most brutal conditions.

Those who remain in their villages are being raped and murdered; the favored weapon of the Buddhist mobs certainly is fire.

However as we have shown in different photos over the last several weeks, they absolutely pack machetes and other types of swords and other weapons.

In the mix of Rohingya attackers are, intermittently, police and military forces who carry various types of guns. They are accused of widespread rape and murder.

While Buddhists have been killed; some while participating in mob activities and others by government forces who opened fire on crowds of angry demonstrators this week, nearly all of the victims of mob violence have been Muslim.

Experts say the Rakhines' efforts to eliminate this ethnic group are in this case, not not just ethnic cleansing, but Genocide - Bosnia style.

Within the international criminal courts, this is a much larger allegation with much harsher sentences for those who are convicted.

With tens of thousands of Rohingya creating a Diaspora of refugees, many have taken to boats and as we reported yesterday, neither Bangladesh or Burma / Myanmar will allow them to reach land and if they do ultimately go to Burma, military forces await them along with a terrible fate.

The U.S. media needs to begin covering this action and not leave it all to the Asian and European agencies that are carrying many reports that never see the light of day in the United States. Efforts to reach the mainstream population need to be accelerated.

As I cite in nearly all of these reports, the international community is moving very slowly in their effort to assist these refugees. They are in boats without supplies andthey are dying, the babies are dying, and no agencies are able to help.

Recent funds allotted for the Rohingya, it was reported in an interview this week by Human Rights Physician Nora Rawley, is not reaching the Rohingya people at all. It is all being intercepted by other interests in this Buddhist majority country.

The Rohingya had their status as legal residents removed in the 1980's by a murderous military junta, when it was considered a pariah state.

The U.S. government recently lifted sanctions against Myanmar's president without requiring the country to recognize the existence of its own citizens.

The Rohingya incidentally, are only one Muslim group in Burma, however all Muslims are under potential attack in recent weeks.

According to my best contact in Sittwe, Burma, one village after another continues to go up in smoke.

"Now, 10,000 people in Pauktaw, and nearly 4000 in Mre Bun have being blocked and are starving for 4 days."

As the photos attest, the degree of misery is off the charts and it is taking place while U.S. media concentrates on a political election.

Caption goes here

Regarding the victims doomed to possibly live out their last days in sight of land that they are restricted from landing on, my contact stated:

"Some them had already died, 2 boats of people were taken by military to Maungdaw but they didn't land Maungdaw, people believed that military killed them."

Nurul Islam, a human rights activist and writer in Bangladesh, reports about the Rohingya crisis frequently for Salem-News.com.

Nurul wrote today:

The floating boats loaded with Rohingyas landed at Sittwe (Akyab). But some boats are still floating near Bangladesh.

One of the most reliable sources informed over the telephone that eventually, the Burmese authority allowed the floating boats loaded with displaced Rohingyas at Sittwe. But the figure of displaced Rohingyas landed at Akyab is unknown. News still coming. Some floating boats loaded with Rohingyas are still floating near Bangladesh and awaiting to land at Shapar Dwip, Teknaf (or) Maungdaw.

It has become abundantly clear that the president of this rogue nation in the U.S. trade spotlight, which has minerals used in the creation of 'dirty' warfare, has no control over the forces he commands.

My friend says nearly 400 victims are on hunger strike because they were forced by NaSAka (Burma's border security force) to follow them go Maungdaw.

Everything taking place with regard to the plight of the Rohingya population is unethical at best. In reality what is taking place is a series of mass murders.

The president of this trouble ridden and corrupt nation needs to stand up for the welfare of his own people regardless of their religion and so far he is barely doing this.

War crimes and crimes against humanity are being carried out every day and all of these murderous acts are direct violations of international law under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

These are just some of the latest images to arrive in our newsroom today, please make this tragedy known; talk about it at work and call your local TV stations and newspapers and ask why they aren't doing something to educate people before it is too late.

I am listing the stories I have written on this ethnic cleansing period in Burma that began in July. You can use our 'Myanmar' or 'Burma' tag below to take you to hundreds of stories beyond those I have personally written. Salem-News.com has become a virtual magnet for the advocates and reporters who are also following this story, most of whom are in Europe and Asia, which is why your help is needed.

Government forces opened fire on mobs of Buddhist protestors within the last 24-hours, killing several. This has to stop immediately and should have never happened.

This, following a systematic genocide of Rohingya homes and villages and unforgivable mob violence and murder. People are being tortured to death as we have reported, and this is all happening at the hands of the Myanmar government.

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Oct-26-2012: Burmese Boat People Flee Genocide Increasingly Compared to Bosnia

Oct-24-2012: Torture and Murder Ignored: Burma Falls Toward Ghastly Depravity Extremely Graphic Photos

Oct-19-2012: U.S. Media Mostly Silent as Buddhist on Muslim Violence in Myanmar Spirals Out of Control

Oct-18-2012: British Document from 1826 Establishes that Muslims are Longtime Inhabitants of Burma

Oct-16-2012: U.S. Media and Press Are Guilty of Murder

Oct-15-2012: Tortured to Death in Burma - Extremely Graphic!

Oct-05-2012: U.S. Ignores Burma's Ethnic Cleansing, Now Bangladesh Sees Retaliation

Sep-20-2012: U.S. Directly Encourages Destruction of Muslim Culture in Burma

Sep-20-2012: Ethnic Cleansing Nightmare: Buddhist Bloodstains on Burma's Barren Soul

Aug-11-2012: Corporate Profits and Dead Muslims: Burma's Sticky Trail of Money and Blood

Jul-20-2012: Why Are Buddhists Committing Genocide Again?